Like most Georgia households, yours might be a dual income family with you and your spouse both working full-time jobs outside the home. As a mother or father, you can likely relate to other parents who were hesitant to send their children to daycare because they’d rather be home with them themselves and because they worry about daycare negligence.
Especially if you have an infant or toddler, it’s difficult to entrust his or her care to others. You were hopefully able to tour numerous daycare facilities in your area and interview several teams of care providers before choosing the center that best fit your family’s needs. There is no guarantee that your child will never suffer an injury while in daycare, but such an injury should never be caused by a worker’s negligence that has disregarded laws and regulations.
Issues that raise daycare negligence concerns
You obviously can’t be with your child 24/7. If you could, there would be no need for you to hire daycare workers to care for him or her. It’s a good idea, however, to show up at your child’s center unannounced on occasion to catch a spontaneous glimpse of the quality of care the workers provide. The following list includes issues that might cause you to suspect negligence or abuse:
- A facility that looks dirty or unkempt
- Babies kept in soiled diapers
- Unexplained marks or injuries on a child’s body
- Child appears nervous or afraid around a particular care provider
- Ignoring the children and their needs
- Workers yelling at or treating children harshly
While it might not be reasonable to expect care providers to be able to inform you of every activity or things they will say or do during the normal course of an average day spent with your child, you have a right to know what their general activity or curriculum outlines and policies are.
Trust your instincts regarding daycare negligence suspicions
Your child’s well-being is your top priority, and it should be a central focus of care providers’ primary concerns as well. You know your child better than anyone. If something doesn’t seem right to you, it’s always a good idea to further investigate the issue. You might be able to do this by simply requesting a meeting with the worker in charge.
If you’re uneasy or dissatisfied with the answers or explanations he or she gives you, you can ask to speak with a facility administrator. Perhaps your child has unexplained marks or bruises on his or her body. Maybe he or she is coming home unusually hungry all the time. Does your child seem afraid of a particular care provider? These are all concerns worth investigating.
If your worst fears become reality
Many Georgia families have been devastated by acts of daycare negligence. It’s understandable that you’d be frustrated and angry to learn that your son or daughter has received substandard care and that a worker’s negligence has caused your child injury.
There are stringent laws and industry standards that govern the actions of daycare providers. State law allows parents to act on behalf of their injured child to seek accountability against a care provider or daycare facility that has caused injury to their child and emotional, physical or economic damages to their family.